About the service Willow Homecare & Support services is a domiciliary care agency providing care and support to people who live in their own homes in Grimsby and surrounding areas. The service provides support to older people, people living with dementia, learning disabilities or autism spectrum disorder, and mental health needs. It also supports people who misuse drugs or alcohol, have an eating disorder, a physical disability or sensory impairment. At the time of our inspection there were 218 people who were receiving a service from this provider.
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
The provider has a robust ongoing recruitment campaign to recruit more staff. The service considered travel time for staff to ensure people received the amount of care agreed in their care plan.
The service has effective safeguarding procedures in place and manages safeguarding's promptly. Staff knew the safeguarding policy and had a good understanding of their responsibility to protect people from harm. Lessons are learned and communicated to support service improvement
People are involved in managing risks and risk assessments were person centred. Staff were aware of people’s risks and how to manage them. Staff told us “I would always read the risk assessment first if I was going to see someone new,” and “They provide the right information and we have time to read them.”
Staff managed medicines consistently and safely. Staff are trained and follow clear policies and procedures on infection control that meet relevant national guidance.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
The provider had clear and effective governance systems in place that identify and manage risks through audits and action plans. This information is used to drive improvements in the service. All relevant legal requirements were understood and met, including notifying the CQC of significant incidents that had occurred.
The service involves people, their relatives and friends in a meaningful way. All staff understand the need to provide a good quality service. One person told us, “I enjoy making sure people are cared for and they can stay in their home for as long as possible.”
Quality assurance arrangements were applied consistently and identified current and potential concerns and areas for improvements. Concerns were investigated and lessons were shared and acted on.
The service worked in a transparent and collaborative way with relevant stakeholders and agencies to support service development and joined up care.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the Care Quality Commission website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection and update
The last rating for this service was requires improvement (published 15 July 2021) and there were breaches of regulation. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve. At this inspection we found improvements had been made and the provider was no longer in breach of regulations.
Why we inspected
We carried out an announced inspection of this service on 13 April 2021. Breaches of legal requirements were found. The provider completed an action plan after the last inspection to show what they would do and by when to improve well led.
We undertook this focused inspection to check they had followed their action plan and to confirm they now met legal requirements. This report only covers our findings in relation to the Key Questions Safe and Well-led which contain those requirements.
For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from requires improvement to good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.
You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Willow Homecare & Support services on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.